


A Promise Fulfilled

by Nova_Fearnewood



Series: Swearing and Promising [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Babies, Dangerous Situations, Epilogue, F/M, Love, Marriage, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Red Room, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:34:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova_Fearnewood/pseuds/Nova_Fearnewood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel for my story "To Swear On Your Life". Bruce and Natasha are settling into a steady routine now that they are parents, but when a vengeful foe comes in the way of their happiness, will they be able to face off against a new enemy that threatens the safety of their family?<br/>(A throwback to when my fanfiction was pretty crappy lol)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spectacular

* * *

**Ivan POV**   


I was furious.

She dared to force me out of her life, ME!

Her father, who had given her all that I could and even supported her during the tough times in her teenage years.

I had accepted the fact that she was married to Dr. Bruce Banner and pregnant with his child…Until things changed.

Namely the color of little Anastasia Grace Banner's eyes and skin.

I had been gone for two whole months and I had returned to Russia with revenge on my mind and a plan forming in my head.

A plan that would involve a new alliance and patience.

_"The time will come when they cannot hide the child's abnormalities, and when that time comes, I will end this sick affair once and for all!"_ , I thought.

I dialed a phone number and the operator answered in Russian.

_"You've reached the operator for the Russian phone service, how may we help you?"_

I replied.

_"This is Ivan Petrovich, please connect me to the Adamovich Ruby Organization."_

_"Right away sir."_

I smiled as I was connected to the one person I was certain would be dead by now.

_"Adamovich Ruby Organization, how may we help you?"_ , a young woman answered.

_"Yes, my name is Ivan Petrovich...I would like to speak with my old friend Vladimir."…._

_"Right away sir.",_ the young woman said as she switched the call.

_"Hello?"_ , came an older man's voice from the other end of the line.

_"Hello old friend."_

_"May I ask who's speaking?"_ , He replied.

_"Surely you must remember me? My name is Ivan Petrovich."_ , I responded.

His whole tone switched in an instant.

_"Ivan? You old dog, I thought you were dead!"_ , he replied and I could hear the sneer in his voice.

Vladimir Adamovich is the man responsible for locking me away all those years, we were friends at one point, but I realized that I would have to offer some collateral to get my alliance.

_"For a while there, so did I. But I was liberated earlier this year. I have a proposition for you."_

_"Ooh a proposition, let's hear it then."_

_"I want to create an alliance with the Red Room."_ , I said directly.

_"An alliance? With my organization? You know that it will cost you…"_

_"That's where my proposition comes into play. I need a small number of your forces to obtain some things that are of value to me…for revenge of course."_

_"What are your items of value? What are they worth?"_

_"Natasha Romanoff and her infant daughter Anastasia Grace Banner and those two are priceless items."_

_"Natasha? The Black Widow…She's a mother? How can this be? She was sterilized at age seventeen just before you were imprisoned."_

_"Apparently your surgeons did a bad job, or they didn't do it at all. Either way, she had a daughter with the Hulk."_

_"The giant green beast?"_

_"Yes, apparently the beast can transform itself into a human that goes by the name Dr. Bruce Banner."_

_"I will let you commandeer an unit of my finest agents but I want to know something first: what's in it for me?"_ , Vladimir replied after a short pause.

My lips curled up into a sneer.

_"That all depends on my level of success. If I can get only the child, I will pay you in full for the costs of your unit. If I return with Natasha and the child, I will let you have Natasha as payment. But if I manage to get all three of them, you can have the Hulk and Natasha...the child will remain with me and I will oversee the testing done to it."_

_"And if you fail?"_

_"You forget who you are speaking to… You know how many years of experience I have, you were my partner through four and a half decades of it…we were practically brothers."_

_"Only I was the son of the founder of the Red Room and you and I were trained together…"_

_"In any case, you know full well what I am capable of… I doubt that I will come away empty handed."_

_"You drive a hard bargain Petrovich, but I think that I can deal with that…I have one request though."_ , Vladimir said.

_"What is it?"_ , I asked.

_"Kill Romanoff if you can't bring her in...It's her punishment for her betrayal to me and every member of the Red Room."_ , Vladimir said sharply.

_"This operation will take time so your assistance is not required immediately."_ , I explained.

_"Of course…you have to attack when they least expect it, when they let their guard down. Contact me when you need me to send my unit. Until then, farewell old friend."_ , Vladimir said as he hung up.

My lips curled into a smirk.

All I had to do was wait.

And if my guess was correct, I wouldn't have to wait too long.

* * *

**Bruce POV**

"Natasha?", I called into the apartment, "I'm home!"

Snowy woofed at me and tackled me to the floor.

"Ugh! Snowy girl! I missed you too!", I gasped as Snowy barked, wagged her tail, and licked me. She was getting so big and starting to grow fur in a darker shade of creamy golden. She still had all the energy of a puppy and she would never cease to make me smile. She sat on the floor in front of me and her tail beat out a staccato rhythm on the floor.

"Missed you too….", I repeated softly as I looked around the empty apartment, wondering where Natasha and Anastasia were.

I had been on the Helicarrier for the past two months, I had been called back to teach a new unit of SHIELD R&D recruits about the dangers of gamma radiation. It had all been really rushed and I had missed Natasha, Anastasia, and Snowy more than anything.

The day we had arrived home from Nebraska was the day that Tony, Fury, Phil, Clint, Serena, and I had been rushed to the Helicarrier ports because we had to teach classes of new SHIELD recruits.

Natasha had gone back on her birth control pills two weeks after that and Ivan had fallen off the grid after leaving the United States on a flight to Morocco.

What didn't help us any was the fact that Ivan had some ties with the Red Room in the past when Natasha was still a member. Ivan had been imprisoned by their leader in Belgium until earlier this year. Natasha wasn't really much of a help when it came to telling SHIELD information about the Red Room either.

Every time the Red Room was mentioned, she would leave the room or get really quiet, even before we were dating she would do that. I may not have a Ph.D. in psychology, but I could tell she had issues with repression and some form of PTSD.

The only thing I knew about the Red Room was that Natasha had to fight to the death on her seventeenth birthday. She had seen some gruesome things in her childhood. She had killed her first person at age nine and had to kill her dog at age ten. Every year on Natasha's birthday the leaders would kill off a number of the girls in a mass ceremony of sorts, and that Natasha was supposed to be sterilized by them at age seventeen.

It was a horrible thing to have to look back on, and I don't blame her for having issues because of what happened to her for twelve years from the time she was five… if it had been me, I'm sure I would repress things too.

Then again, I was beaten as a child and teenager by my alcoholic father all because I had been born. My parents didn't plan on having another child after Grace…My father had turned to alcoholism when I was about two years old as a result of having to work more jobs to support the family. He never beat Grace except for the times that she didn't get straight A's but he did verbally abuse her. My mother made the mistake of always trying to come between me and my father's belt and sometimes we both got it. Come to think of it, I had some issues with my past too.

"Hello? Anyone home?", I called again.

I dropped my suitcase and left the room to go up to the living area with Snowy and see if anyone had seen Anastasia and Natasha.

When I reached the living room, I walked in to find Loki and Darcy French kissing on the sofa. I felt my face get hot and I cleared my throat as they pushed each other away abruptly, both of them blushing.

I rolled my eyes at the couple and asked them if they had seen Natasha and Anastasia.

Loki replied,

"Yes, I saw them this morning when Jane, Thor, and Natasha left with Liz, Ed, and Anastasia to spend a day in the park. They should be home soon."

I nodded as Darcy turned on the TV.

"So Doc, how was it on the Helicarrier?", Darcy asked.

"Uh, lonely…", I replied as I watched her place her head on Loki's chest and sigh exhaustedly, her unusually pale skin standing out against Loki's dark green hoodie as she shivered.

"How so?", Loki asked, "I know you weren't alone."

I shrugged.

"Tony was there and he was the only one I really talked to. I didn't really enjoy teaching and being the center of attention either…it's just not something I wholly enjoy doing."

"Ah. I understand…", Loki nodded as Darcy pulled the blanket off of the back of the couch and draped it over both of them.

I scratched Snowy behind her ear as the couple snuggled closer together and were soon asleep in each other's arms.

I got up and went back to the apartment with Snowy at my heels.

I unpacked, showered, and changed into my comfy clothes before slumping face-first on the king sized bed, thoroughly exhausted from the change in time zones.

My hands grasped Natasha's pillow and I pulled it close, a poor substitute for holding Natasha, but I missed her so badly and a pillow would have to do.

I sighed as I stared blankly at the carved wood of the bedside table and inhaled.

The pillow smelt like lavender, fabric softener, baby lotion, and Natasha's flowery perfume mingled with a scent that was entirely her own.

I missed seeing her pretty face, feeling the way she would place her hands delicately on my chest, the way her lips moved over mine, and the way she would place her head on my chest at night.

My thoughts were nothing compared to Natasha in reality, but they were just comforting enough to lull me to sleep.

* * *

**Natasha POV**

"It's a beautiful day today, isn't it?", I remarked to Jane and Thor as we walked through central park pushing the babies along in their strollers.

As we walked, all of us pointed to things in the park and told the babies what they were. Ed and Liz were trying to repeat the words since they were old enough to talk, but Anastasia's pediatrician, Dr. Karolyn Abernathy, told me that at three months Anastasia's brain is rapidly developing and her vocabulary is forming even if she can't speak yet. She told me that I should point to things and say their names in order for her to learn the words. I was saying the words in English, Latin, and Russian so she would have a sound grasp on all three languages.

"Indeed it is Lady Natasha.", Thor replied.

"That's a tree…Can you say tree?", he asked his daughter.

Liz waved her chubby fist and replied with "Whee", Thor repeated the word, but Liz had issues with pronouncing the letter T.

Jane praised Ed for saying "Tree" as I followed suit,

"That's a tree.  _Arbor. Derevo._ "

"How is little Anastasia doing?", Thor asked.

"She misses Bruce, but she hasn't been turning green as often as I thought she would.", I replied.

"Do you miss him too?", Jane asked, pulling the sun shade up on Edward's stroller.

"You have no idea.", I replied.

"Actually we do.", Jane laughed. "When Thor left for Asgard he gave me his word that he would return, but the Bifrost was destroyed and we were separated for two years…you can almost imagine our reunion.", Jane said with a wink. "If I'm not mistaken, your reunion with Bruce will be pretty spectacular.", she added with a whisper and a sly grin.

"Well," I retorted with a smile and an elbow jab, "Considering the fact that every time you guys spend the day in bed, we have violent thunderstorms, I would say that your reunion was probably on the more spectacular end of the scale."

"Don't lie to me, you said so yourself earlier in the week that you hadn't had sex in four months and couldn't wait for him to get home so you could jump his bones.", Jane said as she rolled her eyes. "If that's not spectacular, I don't know what is."

I didn't want to think that I only wanted to see Bruce again because we had gone sixteen long weeks without intimacy, but that played a pretty large part in the whole scheme of things. I missed his gentle demeanor, the way his eyes would sparkle when he smiled, the way he would tell me how much he loved me, and just watching the way he would care for Anastasia made my heart melt.

"That isn't the only reason I want to see him again.", I said.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah.", I nodded to Anastasia, "I want to get some sleep at night, this little girl is quite the handful."

"Has she rolled over yet?", Jane asked.

"I've put her down on the play mat and moved her legs like Dr. A said, but she just lays there and looks at the ceiling. She doesn't even shift from side to side to try and roll over onto her belly. When I place her onto her belly, she tries to lift herself up on her arms but she hasn't done it completely. She still cries at night and I don't get my eight hours of sleep."

"And you're griping about it?", Jane chuckled.

"Yeah, my lullaby skills are okay but I'm nowhere as good as Bruce. When he sings that 'Golden Slumbers' song, Anastasia is out in no time."

"I've got two, half-human half-Aesir hybrids, who may or may not have the power to control electricity and lightning like their father… they don't sleep at night, and they know how to walk and talk a little… Edward almost escaped from his crib the other day. You have no idea how much I just want to have an hour of straight, interrupted, sleep."

We sat down on a park bench and rested our legs from the exercise.

I was gradually losing weight, slipping below one hundred and thirty pounds after four months. I still wasn't back at my pre-pregnancy weight of one hundred twenty one pounds, but I was getting close. I was much curvier than I was before and my measurements were no longer 36' 24' 36' but they were 40' 28' 38'. I actually liked the fact that my girls still looked good and that I had a little more weight to throw around, it made me feel more like a normal woman.

"Do you think we should head back? It's almost three thirty and that's when the twins go down for their nap.", Thor asked after a period of time.

We got up and left the park and walked the ten blocks back to the tower.

We departed at our respective floors and I walked into my apartment and found nothing amiss until I had laid Anastasia down for her nap and went into the bedroom.

Then I found the best surprise in the world on the bed.

My husband was sleeping soundly, clutching my pillow for dear life as he breathed easily. I sat down on my side of the bed and tried not to wake him up.

Unfortunately, my weight on the bed caused Bruce to stir and crack his warm brown eyes open at me.

He blinked a few times before whispering,

"Hello Natasha."

I leaned down and kissed his forehead as I murmured,

"Hello Bruce…I missed you."

"I missed you too.", he replied as he reached for my hand and held it.

"How was your trip?"

"Would've been better if you and Anastasia had been there."

I smiled.

"You still tired?", I asked.

"Not anymore. I am pretty hungry though, and SHIELD cafeteria food isn't the greatest."

"I know. Do you want to go get dinner? I think tonight is 'clean out the refrigerator' night, so it's every man or woman for his or herself. I know I want the rest of that Thai food because I can finally start eating spicy stuff again without having Anastasia kick me in the gut for it."

"Maybe in a few minutes.", Bruce replied before getting out of bed, "I just want to see my girl right now."

He padded into the nursery and I followed him. I stood at the doorway and watched as he leaned over the crib and cooed at his daughter.

"Look how big you got, your hair is turning as red as your mother's…", he murmured as Anastasia gurgled. He reached into the crib and picked her up while murmuring sweet nothings in her ear in a voice so soft I could barely hear it.

This is what I had truly missed the most, watching my husband be the loving father he always wanted to be.

Bruce sat down on the floor near the play mat and laid Anastasia on her back on the mat.

She started kicking her feet a little and swatting at the toys that hung from the padded rod over her head. Snowy trotted over to Anastasia and laid down next to the mat before sniffing Anastasia experimentally and nudging her with her nose.

I smiled as Anastasia put her hand on Snowy's head and gurgled happily at her furry friend.

"Jarvis,", I said quietly, "Take a picture."

Bruce chuckled softly and then gazed at me.

"Natasha, come over here… I want the whole family over here… I missed you all too much."

I walked over and sat next to Bruce, who kissed me on my forehead.

We sat in silence for a long time and then Anastasia drifted off to sleep.

I put her back in her crib and Snowy trotted over to the rug next to the crib and laid down as Bruce and I left the room.

I went out onto the balcony and sat down in the same spot where Bruce had proposed to me.

"So what do you want to do tonight?", Bruce asked.

"I don't know."

"How about this: we eat dinner now, it's Tuesday so it's Game Night. We can turn in at whatever time you want to and then…", He stood with me and pulled me into his embrace before whispering, "…the rest of the night is ours."

I didn't think, I just kissed him hard on the lips and he kissed me back with the same raw emotion, backing me into the wall as I tugged on his hair. His hands were running down my sides and he bit my bottom lip softly.

Oh, I had definitely missed this.

We broke apart and I noticed how breathless I was.

"Bruce…", I gasped as he straightened his glasses.

"I'm sorry…that was a bit forward of me… even if we are married, I should really take into consideration what you have to say before throwing myself at you…"

"No…I kissed you first…", I replied, "I wanted that…but we should go eat dinner first… you know, fuel the fun…"

"I agree."

* * *

**Bruce POV**

We took the stairs up to the kitchen and as Natasha climbed the stairs in front of me with Anastasia in her arms and Snowy at her heels, I couldn't help but notice how much curvier she had become in the time that I had been gone.

The Hulk liked what he saw and made a noise of approval in the back of my mind.

That single noise was nothing compared to all the talking he did from the time I opened my eyes and saw Natasha siting on the bed to the time when I was making out with her.

I think he did more talking in the past two hours than he had in the past month.

The only thing that I was slightly taken aback at was the fact that the Hulk noticed that Anastasia's other half was slowly getting stronger, but not speaking to her yet.

Tony and I started working on a remedy on the Helicarrier, but the only probable outcome we could find was to use the gamma radiation to reverse the effects of the Hulk.

When Tony suggested it, I remember looking at him like he was insane and asking him if he was drunk. In my opinion, fighting fire with fire would only lead to a bigger problem. Tony had explained that cancer was sometimes caused by and cured with radiation. If we could do the same thing with gamma rays and create a serum, there was a chance that I could get rid of the Hulk.

I ate my Caesar salad in silence as Natasha finished off her Thai food and left the table to go somewhere more private to breastfeed Anastasia. I went into the kitchen and walked in on Pepper and Tony having a conversation in hushed tones.

"Oh, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to intrude…"

"No it's okay…we were done here anyway…", Pepper said as she walked out and left Tony standing there with an ashen look on his face.

"Tony, what happened?"

"Pepper wants to look into artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization procedures… I was hoping that we wouldn't need to resort to that…that what we were doing would be enough to make a baby… She's been taking prenatal vitamins, charting her cycles, eating right, and she even stopped spending late nights at the office to get more sleep. I've been working out, eating right, staying sober except for the glass of champagne I had at the Rogers' wedding, taking a multivitamin, and getting more sleep at night… I'm running out of options here and it's scaring me half to death that we aren't having any luck yet.", he explained.

"Talk to Phil… he and Maria had the same problem… maybe they have some tips for you."

"I already asked them how they finally conceived, but they were doing the same things as we are and they just got lucky one time.", he replied. "I wish I was as lucky as you, Thor, and Phil are…You have no idea what it was like for me when Pepper told me how badly she wanted to have a baby of her own…you should've seen her face when I told her it would be a long shot…".

I patted my friend on the back.

"I wish I could help, really I do, but this is one of life's great mysteries that's beyond my, or anyone else's, reasoning. Don't give up because you haven't been lucky, keep trying and I'm sure things will work out for you…Just promise me one thing.", I said.

"What's that?"

"Don't go all Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt on us and adopt a bunch of kids if things don't work out.", I said with a smile.

Tony finally laughed,

"Oh God no, I don't think Pepper would let me have more than three kids, biological or otherwise… She already says that a child of mine would outsmart all of us as soon as they were old enough to be potty trained and I don't doubt her on that!"

"Now you sound like yourself again… By the way, what's the game tonight?"

"Clue. We're breaking into six teams of two, which works out well since Steve and Beth are off in their own paradise and Fury's on the Tin Can In The Sky."

"Not bad… five bucks says that Team Banner wins.", I said with a smirk.

"Oh it's on and I'll take your bet because the Stark duo is unstoppable!"

"Oh really because it didn't seem that way when we played Blackjack that one time…if memory serves me right, Natasha cleaned out everyone."

"That's because she was counting cards!"

"Are you two really arguing about that game again?", Natasha asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah we are…I think you cheated.", Tony said.

Natasha looked taken aback.

"I would never."

Pepper called for Tony and he left the room. When he was gone, I came up behind Natasha and asked her,

"Did you cheat?"

She turned around and fixed me with the sexiest look she could muster. "Now Dr. Banner…", she began in a seductive voice, "…Why on earth would I do that?", she asked before walking past me and out of the kitchen with a sway of her hips.

**One hour later…**

"…It was Professor Plum, in the Ballroom, with the Knife…", Loki read.

Ten pairs of eyes flicked to Maria and Phil.

"We lost.", Phil stated as we began to clean up.

I exhaled as Natasha's hand left my thigh.

She had been doing this on purpose, getting me frustrated, as if I wasn't frustrated enough before she started teasing me…

She got up to go into the kitchen and I followed her, knowing full well that two could play this game.

She leaned over to pick up Snowy's empty food and water bowls and when she went over to the sink to deposit them, I came up behind her and rested my head on her shoulder.

"Good game Agent Banner…"

"I know of a better one for when we get back to our bedroom and lock the door behind us, Dr. Banner.", she said as she began to grind on me.

I pushed her hair off her neck and kissed that sensitive spot that never failed to turn her on.

She squirmed and whispered,

"Bruce…we shouldn't do this here…"

"You're right we shouldn't…so let's not.", I said before biting her earlobe gently and pulling away.

I was so glad that I didn't have a hard-on as a result of her actions…that would've been awkward.

We said goodnight, Natasha took Snowy out to do her business and I took Anastasia back to her nursery.

She was asleep when I laid her down and I closed the door behind me as I left and walked through the living room and into the bedroom. I heard the telltale sound of Snowy going to her dog bed in the corner of the living room before Natasha entered the bedroom and closed the door behind herself. She made eye contact with me as I stood by the side of the bed. I took off my glasses and put them onto the bedside table as I dimmed the lights.

"Dr. Banner…", she whispered seductively as she began to walk over to me as if she was stalking her prey, "You've waited this long for me… why don't you take me?"

I didn't hesitate for a moment before we both rushed at each other and landed on the bed.

I was the luckiest man in the world.

Thank God that the Hulk never said a word during sex, it was good to just be myself for once.

"Agent Banner, you're a tease…", I growled as she tossed my shirt away.

"You know you like it…", she gasped back as I pulled her shirt off and nipped at her clavicle.

I smirked when she gasped as I brushed my hands over her breasts before tugging her yoga pants down.

She flipped me over onto my back and I looked up at her as she began to grind on me again.

She wasn't going to have the upper hand tonight…

I flipped her over and somehow lost my pants in the process, which left her smirking up at me.

Her smugness was short lived, especially when I pushed my thigh between her legs and rubbed against her panties.

"Bruce…..", she moaned and writhed, "Don't tease me…".

I had already given up on the notion of being gentle. I had gone without release for four months and it was going to be worth the wait. Her teasing showed me that she wanted it rough, so she was going to get it rough.

Her begging just made me press my leg into her harder.

I kissed her and she tugged my hair as my fingers undid the clasp on her bra before tossing it aside.

I kissed her neck again as my fingers went to work on her breasts, teasing her further as she writhed against me.

"Please….", she gasped, and I removed my thigh from her.

She whimpered as my hands left her breasts and ran down her sides to the waistband of her panties and my inner dude did a victory dance at the fact that I was the only man in the world who could make  _the_ Black Widow whimper in pleasure.

"Oh fuck everything!", she cried as I rubbed her through her panties and felt exactly how turned on she was by my actions.

"Just you…", I growled before she bucked into my hand and moaned again.

"Bruce….please….", she gasped as I discarded her panties and teased her.

"What do you want me to do?", I murmured.

She bucked her hips against my fingers and moaned in ecstasy as I slipped one digit inside of her,

"Make love to me all night…"

She pushed my boxers off and then groped blindly in the open drawer of the bedside table for a condom (we didn't want to have another baby until Anastasia was at least two) before finding one and ripping the foil package open with her teeth.

I slipped another finger into her and she cried,

"Oh God!"

I smirked and growled back,

"Nope, not God, just Bruce…"

I pulled my hand away from her and she whimpered at the sudden loss of contact before pushing me off of her.

I didn't move as she rolled the condom onto me, it took all my energy to not lose control and come right then and there… but then she grasped me and my thoughts became a blur as I heard myself moaning her name.

"Natasha….".

I found my thoughts and she stopped jerking me off just long enough for me to growl, push her onto her back, and get on top of her.

I searched for any sign of doubt in her eyes and when I found none, I leaned in and kissed her slowly.

She bucked her hips against mine and I decided not to wait any longer before pushing inside of her.

She cried out with me as I stilled when I was buried in her, waiting for her to stretch.

She was always a tight fit, but now it was even harder to keep it together…

"Bruce….you can move….", she panted.

I began to move and she was so close to the edge that it just spurred me to move faster.

She chanted my name like a prayer and screamed it when she came undone.

Her release triggered my own and we fell into oblivion together.

* * *

**Natasha POV**

I panted as Bruce stilled and removed himself from me.

Wow.

That was the most incredible experience of my life.

Bruce had never been that rough with me and I liked it.

Bruce got up and discarded the condom as I rolled over and closed the bedside table drawer.

"That was amazing…", I commented as he spooned against me.

"You think so?"

"I know so…"

"Well if you're up for round two, I'd be all too happy to oblige…", he said and I could feel him smirk as he kissed my shoulder.

I rolled over and looked into his eyes and whispered,

"I am if you are."

"Then let's proceed…", he murmured as he pressed his lips to mine.

Jane was right.

Our reunion was quite spectacular.

* * *

 


	2. Demons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank You so much for your response to my story. There is a bit of smut in here, but, again it won't be terribly graphic. This story is unbeta'd.

 

* * *

**Bruce POV**

"Hey we're home!", Beth called as she and Steve walked into the living room one Saturday morning.

Both of them had a glow from their tans and it suited them well.

"Hey guys!", I greeted, "Nice seeing you two again. How was Fiji?"

Beth sighed,

"Ugh it was so hard to leave…I loved it there!"

Steve nodded in agreement but the way he smiled told me (and every other guy) that he had got a lot of action on the island…not that he would ever say that out loud.

"Well captain...Let's go back to our floor and unpack.", Beth said with a smile.

"Yes ma'am...", Steve said as Beth exited the room with a sway in her hips and Steve following right behind her, "Oh and tell Tony that his wedding present was thoughtful.", Steve said in an afterthought to Pepper, who nodded.

When the couple had left the room, I asked Pepper what Tony gave them.

"Oh,", Pepper sighed, "He got them a fondue pot."

I smirked as I recalled what Tony told me some time ago about Steve thinking that the term 'fondue' was a double-entendre for 'sex' back in the 40's and that Howard Stark told him that fondue was just cheese and bread. Steve still referred to sex as 'fondue' and the fondue pot had been more of a gag gift than anything else.

I held Anastasia as she napped and I watched Darcy coach Loki through the gameplay for Grand Theft Auto V on Tony's flat screen. The game had been out for a year, but it was still Darcy's favorite. Once when she was playing it a few days after Loki came to earth, he had scoffed at her skills and said that he could probably play better than she could.

Loki got owned in GTA V that day and quickly realized that Darcy was the queen of the controllers and that he wasn't even close to her level of skill.

"Select your weapon! Quick, cheat code!", she yelled as a cop got too close to Loki's character and Loki quickly punched in a cheat code and made the cop lower his weapon and stroll by the spot where he was hiding.

"Good job! Now shoot him!", she said and I shook my head as Loki 'popped a cap in his ass', as Tony put it so eloquently when he was watching someone else play GTA V.

Natasha had gone down to the gym to work on getting back in shape.

She had been practically living out of the gym since I had returned from the Helicarrier, she had returned from the gym every evening, sweating and exhausted. Her muscles had been ripping and re-growing at rates I didn't think were possible.

She somehow still had enough energy for marathon sex every other night (well that technically  _is_  exercise for both parties).

Anastasia had been growing rapidly in the past two weeks and the Hulk had been taking note of this, saying that she was beautiful and incredible. Sometimes the big guy could be so affectionate.

Other times, like right now, he would worry about his own well-being. He was talking about my intention to wipe him out of my mind and body and telling me that it would be a bad idea.

_"Baby Anna much different than baby twins, Hulk blame himself for this. Hulk also blame himself for causing Banner to want to remove Hulk from him and Anna. Hulk sorry for all the trouble and hope that he won't be separated from Banner, Tasha, and little Anna. Little Anna need help, Hulk can help if you give him chance…Hulk would be lonely if Banner take away his Anna and his Tasha."_

I shook my head as Natasha walked in from the gym and sat down next to me.

Her red locks were damp and sweet smelling, causing me to infer that she had just stepped out of the shower.

"Hey Bruce. How is she?". Natasha asked, straightening the edge of the blanket around Anastasia.

"She's been sleeping like a rock since you fed her this morning."

"Okay… Can I hold her?", she asked, shifting as I placed my napping daughter in her mother's arms.

"She's so cute…", she said, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

"Natasha, I have a serious question to ask you.", I said after a moment of silence.

"Shoot."

"Okay, suppose Tony and I  _did_  find a way to get rid of the Hulk from Anastasia and I, would you want us to get the Hulk removed?"

She screwed up her face and I could tell that she was weighing the pros and cons of not having the Hulk around. I had asked a loaded question and she was going to think for quite some time about her answer.

"I would say no.", she replied.

I couldn't believe my ears.

"What?"

"I would say no to having the Hulk removed.", she repeated.

"Why?", I asked, confused.

Didn't she know how much agony it put me through whenever I destroyed something? Didn't she know that I would simply pass on the mutation to any other children we might have and then they would pass it on to any children that they may have? Didn't she know how easy it was to lose control?

"When you Hulk out on the battlefield and I'm not there, the Hulk asks where I am and he gets upset. When you Hulk out in the unit, he puts his hand on the glass and talks to me, he tells me that he loves me just as much as you do and that he feels bad about scaring me. Bruce, I didn't know you before you had your accident, I don't know who you were before the Hulk, I don't know that I'll like who you are without him. I love the Hulk and I love you."

"So you're telling me that without the Hulk, you wouldn't love me?", I asked her, feeling hurt.

"No! I'm saying that Dr. Bruce Banner and the Hulk are two sides to the same coin. You wouldn't like me if my Black Widow side didn't exist, would you?"

"Not as much.", I replied sheepishly, "But the Black Widow isn't a separate being…you don't hear the Black Widow talking inside your head like the Hulk talks in mine."

"But the Black Widow was created and is a part of my very existence. I would lose myself if I wasn't the Black Widow. You can't have Natasha Banner without the Widow, it just can't happen. I'm not saying that I don't love you, or that I love one of your sides more than the other, I'm just saying that both sides love me in the same way. You see what I mean?", she asked.

"I see."

"You aren't upset, are you?", she asked softly, lowering her head to plant another kiss on Anastasia as she stirred in her sleep.

"Not at all.", I murmured back.

It was becoming clear to me that I had changed over the years following my accident. I had become someone else and it took a few questions and answers to figure it all out. I knew I was changing because everyone changes as time goes by, I just didn't realize that I was becoming a better man as a result of having the Hulk inside of me.

Looking back on my former self, I realize that I hadn't been as good as I thought I had been. I had been reserved, but I had been pretty self-centered. Hadn't I been warned before testing the serum? I had been ignorant to my colleagues' warnings and proceeded with the testing because I thought I was right.

After my first transformation, I had changed. My personality was different and I worked to fight the Hulk. I gained more respect for others and listened carefully from then on. I learned the hard way that I wasn't always going to be successful.

"Bruce… look at her…", Natasha murmured as I was snapped out of my thoughts.

Anastasia was awake and was reaching her short arms out to me, babbling on in her infantile form of communication. Her brown eyes were wide and alert as she giggled.

Watching my daughter reach out to me was a completely new experience, one that I was glad to partake in.

I scooped my daughter from her mother's arms and sat her on my lap, watching with wonder as she waved her chubby fists at me, gurgling happily.

"She's getting so big….", I murmured.

"She is.", Natasha replied, "Soon she'll be crawling and talking."

"I can't believe she's almost four months old…."

"Neither can I."

* * *

**Natasha POV**

**Two weeks later…**

I rinsed off and then felt Bruce wrap his arms around me from behind.

Bruce and I had had a very long day and now we were unwinding together in the shower. Anastasia and Snowy were asleep after a long family outing in Central Park.

It was all quiet in our apartment and I tried to keep from moaning in ecstasy, but my lips betrayed me.

"Mm Bruce…I like that….", I moaned as he worked his hands on my tense shoulder muscles, working the knots out like a professional massage therapist.

He kissed the first few vertebrae in my back and I could feel him smirk as the hot water streamed down over my body and rinsed the last bits of conditioner out of my hair.

I turned around as he pushed his dripping, silver-streaked, hair off his forehead and smiled gently, his liquid brown eyes causing warmth to spread through me and making my toes curl.

"Natasha, you never cease to amaze me."

I kissed him passionately and our tongues wrestled for dominance.

His hands were roaming all over my body and I shivered as my back made contact with the wall tiles.

With Bruce at my front doing indescribable things to my body, making me moan incoherent words with every gentle touch and passionate kiss, the hot water streaming down upon us, and the cool tiles to my back causing me to shiver.

He bit my clavicle, no doubt leaving a mark, and I threaded my fingers through his drenched hair to tug ever so gently on it.

"Bruce… I want you… Right now.", I gasped as he moved his fingers inside of me.

I could feel my release building, growing, until I was sure he would let me fall over the edge.

My breathing came in pants and it felt like my heart was beating loud enough for everyone in the tower to hear.

"Then let's take this into the other room and we can spend the evening in each other's company.", he murmured as he removed his fingers from me.

I groaned at the loss of contact.

I had been so close.

I switched off the hot water and wrung my hair out before Bruce passed me my towel.

I looked down and saw that my stretch marks and postpartum bump were decreasing in size after almost four months of hard training and I was starting to see my abs coming back. I had been on my feet the day after I gave birth, as most mothers were, and I began training as soon as I was cleared by Dr. Hiddleston.

Looking at my marks, I got a bit self-conscious of them. I wasn't afraid of aging or anything, it was just slightly unnerving to look down and not see the perfect set of abs marked with a few scars that I'd always had until I got pregnant or to look down and not see a rounded bump where my daughter had been thriving. Whenever I looked down now, all I could see were deep wrinkles and loose skin made even more evident by my scars.

I sighed and toweled my hair to a damp state, still focused on my abdomen until I wrapped the towel around my chest.

Bruce kissed my neck softly before resting his head on my shoulder.

"What are you thinking Tasha?", he murmured as we made eye contact in the mirror.

"How much of a difference four months makes."

"How so?", he asked.

"It's been nearly four months since I gave birth and I still have all this postpartum flab on my body...it's kind of ugly."

"It'll take some time to get rid of it, but it will happen.", Bruce replied.

"It makes me feel less than what I should be..."

"Which is perfection?", he asked rhetorically.

"Well…yes, I suppose. Before I became pregnant, I was the one that all the women in SHIELD, and everywhere else for that matter, wanted to look like. I was slim, toned, and I didn't have stretch marks…that's how it always was for me, even when I was in the Red Room program. Then I became pregnant and I just got used to having a round abdomen. I thought my flab and wrinkles would be gone in four months if I worked hard enough… Before, I could easily run ten miles and then begin to get winded on mile eleven. Now I can barely run five miles without getting a cramp in my side."

"Natasha, I want to tell you something about those marks you have, the ones you find ugly. Every line and stretch mark symbolizes every moment you spent wondering what Anastasia was going to look like, imagining who she was going to become, and loving her. Every miniscule wrinkle symbolizes every minute you carried her, from her conception to her birth. These marks may be ugly to you, but I look at them and realize how different we both would be if the little being who made them didn't exist. For nine months you did what I will never be able to do… what no man will ever be able to do. For nine months, I felt pretty useless… When it comes down to the bare bones, it was all up to you. I honor you for it.", Bruce replied.

I smiled and kissed my husband.

"Love you."

"Love you too."

We walked into our bedroom and Bruce went over to his closet to put on sleepwear but I stopped him in his tracks.

"Bruce…"

"Yes dear?", he replied, turning to face me.

"I thought we were going to have the evening to ourselves?", I replied seductively, walking over to him and making my hips sway enough to draw his eyes downward.

"Well we had the conversation back there and I thought that I had kind of killed the mood…", he said as he ran his fingers through his hair awkwardly.

I moved gracefully and slowly across the floor, lowering my eyelids as I went.

"Hardly Dr. Banner…", I whispered seductively as I ran my hand down his chest and slid the dimming switch down to the point where the lights were hardly on at all.

"So I guess I should stop talking…", he said with a smirk.

I pushed him onto the bed gently and moaned as his lips met the sensitive part of my neck.

He pulled my towel away as I removed his and I reached into the bedside table for a condom.

"Natasha…You know you drive me absolutely crazy when you do this to me.", he growled as I rolled the condom down onto him and teased him in the process.

"After what you did to me in the shower, I'd say this is payback.", I said with a devilish little smirk.

He moaned as I teased him further. I got on top of him and impaled myself on him.

We had barely gone a minute when I heard Jarvis send out the alert.

"Avengers Assemble!"

I whined as Bruce gripped my hips and looked like he was going to pull out and leave me high and dry.

"How…-ah-..how close are you?", he panted from below me.

"Ah-…give me a couple more minutes…", I gasped.

He reached up and touched me as I rode him, causing me to cry in pleasure.

"Natasha…I don't know how much more I – ah- can take….", he muttered as his focus sharpened.

"Bruce….I'm close…"

Tony came in over the intercom in our room.

"Bruce! What are you doing?"

Bruce groaned and replied,

"Tony, do you really need me?"

"We need everyone. Are you really that tired?", Tony asked.

Bruce flipped me over and answered Tony as I tried to keep my cries of pleasure to myself.

"No…not tired but-ah- definitely busy.".

I tried to stifle a moan and let it slip out anyway.

"Bruce…."

"Tony, I'm kind of busy here…", Bruce groaned as I shifted and sent him deeper with his next thrust.

I felt the heat of his passion as he dropped his lips down to seek purchase on my neck and lips.

"Bruce….", I moaned as he ran his tongue along the sensitive part of my neck.

"Oh…I see, I'll um…just leave with the rest of the team…you can show up if you want to… I'll leave a post it note with the address of the call on it…we shouldn't take too long, but if we call you again, we're getting overpowered and you should show up.", Tony said awkwardly.

Tony ended the intercom call and Bruce moaned loudly.

"Natasha…God, -ah- you're beautiful…"

I could feel my orgasm building to a peak and I grew louder as he pushed into me once, twice, three times, and then I screamed his name as I fell over the edge.

Bruce thrust into me a few more times before he came.

"NATASHA!", he yelled into the darkness.

I gasped as aftershocks assaulted both of us. Bruce collapsed onto me in the darkness and kissed me slowly.

"Dr. Banner, your assistance is required in the fight…", Jarvis said over the intercom.

Bruce pulled out of me and I laid there, panting as if I had just run for my life.

"Natasha…I have to go, I wish I could stay and sleep but the team needs me…", Bruce muttered apologetically as he rolled out of bed.

"It's alright Bruce…I'll be here when you get home.", I replied, feeling just the slightest bit of annoyance at the ill-timed distress call.

"A man shouldn't have to leave his wife after they just made love…that isn't right…", he muttered as he pulled on a pair of cheap pants and a plain t-shirt.

"I know, but the team needs you, so go to them…"

Before he left, he ran back over to me where I sat up in bed, the sheets wrapped around my chest messily, and my hair mussed up from our previous actions.

"Love you. Be safe.", I said as he pecked me on my forehead.

"Love you too…"

Bruce ran out of the room and I heard the apartment door close behind him.

I rolled out of bed and pulled on a long flimsy nightgown and my long silky dressing gown while I wriggled into my slippers.

I laid out a change of clothes in the bathroom so that Bruce could head right to the shower and then get ready for bed when he came home.

I padded out of the apartment and took the elevator up to the room where I would keep tabs on the battle.

I sat down and put on my headset as the battle cams booted up around me on four monitors. A map appeared on the fifth monitor and had symbols to show where every member of the team was during the battle. The red dots symbolized enemies.

The radiation symbol that was Bruce's started blinking green. He had started his transformation. The blinking green symbol turned into a steady green as Bruce was now the Hulk.

"Tony, on your six.", I called out as a group of drones flew behind him.

"Thanks Nat.", he said as he blasted them to smithereens.

I zoomed the cameras around and focused in on the Hulk.

"WHERE NATASHA?", he bellowed as he batted a dozen drones out of the air in one swipe.

"Phil? Where are you?", Maria called from the cockpit of the Quinjet.

"I'm fighting off a good bit of ground drones with Loki.", he replied.

"How's Loki doing?", Darcy asked.

"He just froze a few dozen drones."

"Nice."

"Natasha? Is Beth at home?", Steve asked.

"Yes she is.", I replied.

"Could you tell her to have some butterfly bandages, isopropyl alcohol, antibacterial ointment, and gauze bandages ready with some Ibuprofen when I get home? My muscles will sorely need them. Thanks."

"No problem."

I sent the message to Beth and looked at my monitors for a few more minutes before Jarvis contacted me.

"Mrs. Banner, Anastasia is crying.", Jarvis informed, and I leapt to my feet and ran as fast as I could back to the apartment.

Anastasia was becoming stronger and I was afraid of her losing control and hurting herself in the process.

I leaned over her crib and picked her up while cooing at her to try and make her green complexion fade away. I took her over to the changing table and disposed of her soiled diaper before noticing that she had a bit of diaper rash.

Poor thing, no wonder she was so miserable.

I cleaned her up and treated her rash before putting her into a clean diaper and pajamas.

She was still crying as I rocked her back and forth but she quieted as I began to sing a lullaby.

_"Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,  
Go to sleep my little baby.  
When you wake you shall have  
All the pretty little horses.  
Black and bays, dapples, grays,  
All the pretty little horses."_, I watched as Anastasia's eyelids began to droop again and the green faded back into her eyes. __  
"Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,  
Go to sleep my little baby.  
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,  
Go to sleep my little baby.  
When you wake you shall have  
All the pretty little horses."

I exhaled in relief as the green finally faded from her eyes and I laid her back in her crib with the teddy bear Phil and Maria got her at the hospital in the corner of the crib.

The sooner Bruce returned, the better.

I lacked my better half and without him, even for an hour or two, I would find myself running in theoretical circles.

I could be a mother just fine during the times when he wasn't there, but it was never the same as the times when we would watch our daughter together.

I peered into the crib and I turned around as Bruce staggered in the door to our apartment covered in ash, dust, and other dirt. His shirt was gone and his pants were ripped at the seams. I rushed to him and he smiled weakly at me.

"Hey.", he croaked out.

"Hey, I'll help you out okay.", I said as I helped him into the bathroom where I had already laid out a comfy change of clothes.

"Thanks Nat, I can take it from here… you look beautiful in that gown…", he said as he kissed my lips softly before closing the door and going about his business.

I went back into the nursery and watched my daughter sleep.

Her hair was turning reddish brown, a perfect combination of Bruce and myself. Her eyes were twin pools of warm liquid brown and she shared that with her father, but when she smiled all Bruce said he could see was me reflected in our baby.

I heard Bruce singing in the shower and I stopped and listened.

_"When the days are cold, and the cards all fold, and the saints we see are all made of gold, when your dreams all fail, and the ones we hail, are the worst of all, and the blood's run stale, I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you, but with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide. No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed, this is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come._   _When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide. Don't get too close, it's dark inside. It's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide."_

 I let Bruce pause for a moment and then took over with the second verse.

_"Curtain's call, is the last of all, when the lights fade out, all the sinners crawl. So they dug your grave, and the masquerade, will come calling out, at the mess you've made. Don't wanna let you down, but I am hell bound, though this is all for you, don't wanna hide the truth. No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed. This is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come. When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide. Don't get too close, it's dark inside, it's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide"_ , I sang before Bruce took over _._

_"They say it's what you make, I say it's up to fate, it's woven in my soul, I need to let you go"  
"Your eyes, they shine so bright, I wanna save that light. I can't escape this now, unless you show me how."_, he replied as he turned off the shower and I heard the rustling of cloth _._

_"When you feel my heat, look into my eyes. It's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide"  
"Don't get too close, it's dark inside, it's where my demons hide"  
_

_"_ _It's where my demons hide"_ , we finished together as he came into the bedroom.

Bruce looked me in the eyes and murmured,

"You have such a beautiful singing voice.".

"Thank you.", I said before patting his side of the bed, "Now you look tired Bruce. Come to bed."

My exhausted husband obliged and soon we were both flying over the clouds, lost in our own dreams where our demons would never hide.

* * *

 


	3. Prophecy in Red

  


* * *

**Ivan POV**

**Adamovich Ruby Organization (Red Room) HQ #5, Novosibirsk, Russia.**

I gazed out of the window at the driving snow and grinned.

Winters in Russia were harsh, but I had never felt more at home.

My life was in order now that I had my old job back and I had two assignments to keep myself busy with.

Five months had passed since I left the states and come back to Russia. My patience was wearing thin… although I had never been a very patient man when it came to vengeance.

The time had come for me to exact my revenge on the daughter who betrayed me and her mad scientist husband who pretends he is a normal human.

Anastasia Grace Banner would become the foundation for many Russian genetics and radiation advances. The tests that would be run on her would be so beneficial to the Red Room's Super Soldier serum program.

Soon, our Black Widows would become the best agents in the entire world, capable of handling any covert operation. They would become superior spies and skilled mercenaries, trained to show loyalty only to their handlers and superiors in the Red Room.

Vladimir had offered me my old job within the Red Room as his partner but since I had so much SHIELD intel, he was depending on me to find the weak spot of SHIELD, infiltrate the organization and dismantle it until nothing remained of their group.

My team was in New York City and, according to them, they had stumbled upon the weak spot and possibly, the information I would need to obtain Anastasia.

I turned around and looked at the files on my desk, the picture of a young woman with jet black hair and hazel eyes stared back at me.

She was the weak link.

Her name was Doctor Karolynn Abernathy, SHIELD's newest doctor who also happened to be the only SHIELD-approved pediatrician in the area.

Maybe I would be able to kill two birds with one stone.

* * *

**Bruce POV**

_Six and a half months old already….my little girl is getting so big._

"Bruce…can you come here please?", Natasha called from the nursery, "and can you bring Agent Snuggles?", she added.

I sighed softly and picked up the Build-A-Bear that Fury gave Anastasia for Christmas with a smile.

Agent Snuggles was a brown bear who wore a suit, much like most of the agents at SHIELD. I laughed to myself when I imagined Fury of all people, standing in line at the workshop and actually going through the process of building a stuffed animal.

I entered the room and found Anastasia on her play mat, sitting up and waving her chubby fists at me as she babbled. Natasha looked up at me from her spot on the floor and said,

"She's passed her previous time for sitting up, now if only she would start talking…"

Anastasia giggled as I placed Agent Snuggles by her.

"Ba!", she shouted happily at the sight of her stuffed friend.

Anastasia was supposed to be saying simple words now, like most six month old babies should be, but she was already starting to eat soft foods and she enjoyed all of them except for the one time we tried to give her a taste of baby food from a jar, she hated that. In any case, both of us were learning how to use a food processor to make Anastasia's baby food.

She was starting to get her baby teeth in and she hated that too. I bought a set of teething rings that worked great and, to my surprise, Anastasia didn't Hulk out too much.

Unfortunately Dr. Abernathy, the pediatrician, found out the hard way that Anastasia's Hulk side HATED getting vaccinated.

At the five month checkup, Anastasia had to get many of the necessary vaccinations for infants and after the first shot she had turned green.

Dr. Abernathy was scared stiff and Natasha had to put the poor doctor in a restraining hold until she stopped trying to jump out of the window or call the police.

Needless to say she was very reluctant to come under SHIELD's wing and more uncertain than most of the civilian doctors that were on SHIELD's radar to be 100% confidential about the records of their undercover patients.

Unknown to Dr. Abernathy, her new secretary was actually Serena Atwell.

She and Clint were working undercover to make sure Dr. Abernathy was keeping her oath of silence. Clint was undercover as a maintenance man in the same medical building as Dr. Abernathy's practice.

I gazed at Natasha as she held Anastasia and they babbled back and forth as if they were having a conversation.

"Anastasia.", I called softly to my daughter and she stopped babbling to Natasha.

I called her name again and she looked at me with a smile on her face and reached out to me.

I took her from Natasha and she giggled at me before saying, "Da-da!", and reaching for my glasses.

I laughed and said, "No Anna, Daddy's glasses aren't a toy.", but she pulled them off anyway.

Natasha took them from Anna and slipped them back onto my face. Anastasia's bottom lip began to quiver and I grabbed another toy to occupy her with quickly before her tears began to flow.

"Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark wants to speak with you via the intercom but he wanted me to make sure that you and Mrs. Banner were not, and I quote 'having sexy fun time'.", Jarvis interrupted.

"Jarvis, we're keeping it G-rated here, so Tony isn't interrupting anything, but tell him to keep it down, it's almost nap time.", Natasha replied before scooping Anastasia up and selecting a book to read to her.

I left the room and then Tony came over the intercom.

"Bruce? We need to have a little talk.", he began.

I sat on the sofa and asked,

"About?"

"Well it's about a couple of things in particular."

"Don't tell me… the first thing is about the Lab right?", I asked sarcastically.

"Well…Yes.", he replied. "Can you get up here asap?"

I sighed, "No problem."

"Great! See you in a few.", Tony replied.

I poked my head into the nursery as Natasha laid Anastasia in her crib.

"Natasha, I'm heading up to the Lab, so I'll see you soon."

She walked over to me, turned on the baby monitor, and closed the nursery door.

"Sounds great but remember, I'm going out with Jane tonight, she said that she needed to get out of the tower for a while and just have time away from the twins, she asked me to come along so we can have a 'mother's night out'.", she said as she picked up a few of Snowy's toys and put them away.

"Yes, I didn't forget. Thor invited me up to his apartment so there would be more supervision...the twins are too much for just one demigod to handle, so we turned babysitting into a joint effort.", I replied.

"Alright then. Have fun in the Lab.", she said as she kissed me softly. "And make sure Tony doesn't blow himself up.", she added as I left the apartment.

I took the elevator up to the lab and Tony was waiting for me as the doors opened.

"Ah there you are Bruce!", Tony greeted, clapping me on the back, "How's everything going? Do you want some eggnog, I have some in the mini fridge that was leftover from Christmas?"

He was never this friendly, and he never shared his eggnog, so I immediately got the feeling that he had most likely set my desk on fire again.

"What did you do this time?", I asked, slipping into my lab coat.

"Nothing! I just need to ask you a few things.", Tony replied.

I walked over to my section of the lab and began to organize my (thankfully) uncharred desk.

"Well, you said you had to ask me a few things, go ahead and ask.", I said, shuffling papers at the same time.

"Okay. On a scale of slug's speed to bullet train, how fast would you say you can move?"

I turned and looked at him.

"Repeat your question."

"How fast can you move?"

"Normal speed or Hulk speed?", I asked.

"Both."

"Well, I'm not that fast as far as human speed goes, I know that Beth is faster than I am with running…", I trailed off.

"Beth can outstrip her husband on her worst day, so don't feel bad. But I know you can run faster than me on a normal day. How fast is the Hulk?", he asked.

"Um… According to Natasha, the Hulk is lightning fast.", I replied, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well, this is a lot for me to ask of you, and it's really awkward for me to do this, but if it works, I will be eternally grateful.", he said.

I huffed in agitation.

"Just tell me!"

"Okay! Okay! I want to see if I can find a way to take someone else's sperm cells and replace their DNA with mine, like how donated eggs get chromosomes removed and the mother-to-be has something taken out of her faulty egg and put in the donor egg, only it'll be with sperm.", he blurted out.

I stared at Tony for a good few seconds to make sure he was being serious.

The look on his face was so unlike his normal expressions.

The normal Tony was always lighthearted and free-spirited, he always had jokes to tell and had great (sometimes risky) ideas. He always smiled and was crazy in his own way. There was always a mischievous look in his eyes.

Looking at him now, he was dead serious. He didn't smile and there was no sign of mischief in his eyes, only desperation and fear. He looked older than the Tony I was so used to working with. Worry lines crossed his face and he was getting a few silver hairs here and there.

"Are you serious?", I asked.

"Bruce…I'm serious as a heart attack…", he replied in a stolid voice.

"Tony…I know why you want to do this and it hurts me to tell you that it's nearly impossible to do something like that with sperm…", I said, turning away from him.

"So that's it then? We won't even try?", he asked.

"Tony, you know how I feel about screwing around with DNA, and I know your intentions are a last resort to try and have a baby with Pepper but trust me when I say that messing with DNA is dangerous.", I said. "Screwing around with cells and radiation is how Steve became the super soldier, but it's also how I became the Hulk…"

"It's worth a shot, what could possibly go wrong?", he said.

"Okay then. What if I  _did_ agree to help you with this and let's say we  _did_  find a way to do this replacement thing and Pepper agreed to have the modified sperm put into her body?"

"We would put it in her, right?", Tony replied.

"I guess so, but picture this: she gets pregnant and everything goes smoothly until the baby is born and has serious mutations or worse… the baby doesn't make it…", I replied, feeling a twinge of grief as I recalled the first time Natasha had been pregnant. "I'm sure you would blame yourself for it if something went wrong."

Tony turned away and clenched his fists.

"You don't understand what I'm going through… I'm desperate to try anything. The doctor came back with the results of Pepper's fertility tests and said she's perfectly healthy and that I'm the one that has the defective system…"

"You're right, I don't understand, but that-"

"Bruce, you got Natasha pregnant  _twice_  without even trying, so you can't tell me not to be desperate.", Tony said angrily, "Pepper is going to get sperm from a donor and then she'll get pregnant but it won't be  _my_ baby she's carrying…"

The Hulk was restless in the back of my mind, he didn't like being reminded of the situation and much less being reminded of the miscarriage, but I forced him back with all my might.

"Tony, I know you want to be a father and see a combination of yourself and Pepper in a child, but this DNA extraction and replacement experimentation is a long shot mainly because a sperm cell can't survive for more than nine days and has to be kept at a specific temperature…"

"And that is where you come in.", Tony said, turning to face me.

"Me? How am I going to change the durability of sperm cells? I'm not God.", I replied. Tony had really lost it now.

"No! I know you can't  _change_  them, but you know how I said I would be asking a lot from you?", Tony asked with a shrug, "I said I would be eternally grateful…"

Realization dawned on me as his intentions were made clear.

"If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting then my answer is a resounding NO!", I said firmly, emphasizing the 'NO' for finality.

"Aww c'mon Bruce!"

"I said no!", I repeated, walking away to the other section of the lab.

"Bruce, It's just a tiny bit of-"

I turned on my heel and pulled my glasses off.

"No! You aren't going to use my sperm as the donor!", I snapped.

"Why not?"

"You know goddamn well why not!", I yelled, still keeping the Hulk at bay, "Tony, your test tube baby could end up with mutations from the initial experimentation with a normal sperm cell if it worked, I'd hate to see what type of abnormalities a child would have if  _I_ let you use my sperm cells and it worked!"

"The only reason why I asked is because you  _are_  the Hulk!", Tony shouted back.

"Well guess what, I- wait…What did you just say?", I asked.

"I want you to be the donor because you  _are_ the Hulk.", he repeated.

"This could end badly…"

"You are the only one who has cells that are probably durable enough to live for more than a week outside of the body.", Tony added.

"I'm not doing this and that's final.", I said, hanging up my lab coat.

"Why not?", Tony asked.

I turned around and said in a softer voice to my desperate friend,

"Because you want a child so badly that your willing to go to such lengths as using risky experimental science with genetics, cellular mutations, a donor with gamma radiation poisoning, and all to have a child that may or may not live full term. Besides, if it does live to term, it may have numerous physical and mental abnormalities. You're going to make yourself insane. I've seen colleagues go insane and it's not a fun thing to witness. I'd hate to see it happen to you."

He got this devastated look on his face and exhaled, looking older and more tired than ever before.

"You know Bruce, I think you're right… I am driving myself insane.", he muttered, "I'm sorry for calling you down here, away from your wife and daughter, go be with them. Leave me alone.", he said, turning away from me and walking towards his workbench.

"Hey Tony.", I called after him.

"What do you want?", he asked, not even turning to look at me.

"To impart unto you a commonly used phrase: 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' I think it applies to this situation. Life is giving you the lemons or the choices you don't want to have, and instead of accepting your situation and making lemonade, you're taking the lemons and trying to make scotch. You're trying to create more options for yourself and it won't work the way you want it to."

"So I should give up on Pepper having my baby someday?"

"No, just keep in mind that someday you will be a father to some child and it will be the greatest thing that has ever happened to you.", I replied.

"Thanks for talking some sense into me.", Tony said.

"You're like a brother to me Tony, I can't have the second-in-command CEO of Stark Industries losing his sanity on my watch…Pepper would kill me, then kill you, then find a way to resurrect me only to kill me a second time."

Tony laughed and I smiled, glad to have the normal Tony back.

"Yeah, I need ideas too.", Tony said, finally facing me.

"What for?"

"My one year wedding anniversary with Pepper is tomorrow and she didn't say anything about plans or gifts, so I have no idea what to do."

"Take her to the festivities in Times Square, you could make international news.", I said with a shrug.

"Nah, I don't think Pepper would like that."

"Take her to that little island off the coast of Brazil and spend some time there.", I suggested, "Or get her a Pandora bracelet and personalize it."

"I like the bracelet idea.", he said before running out of the lab, "Thanks Bruce!"

"No problem!", I said before turning back to my desk and resuming the task of organizing its contents when my phone buzzed.

I checked my inbox and found a message from Clint that read:

"Abernathy is getting into dangerous waters over here, some shady man just walked into the practice and his buddy is standing guard at the door to Abernathy's practice. I don't know if he's the father of some rich kid that needs a prescription filled or if he's actually a member of some espionage group that's looking for SHIELD's weak spot. I just sent his photo into SHIELD's database to see who he is, but I haven't got the results back yet. We'll keep you posted, just thought you should know because your daughter's medical records are there."

I got a feeling in the pit of my stomach that this day was about to get really strange and possibly dangerous. The Hulk felt it too.

"SHIELD confirmed that both of them are Russian, but neither have links to any espionage groups.", Clint typed before sending photos of the men.

Both of them were wearing red and had their ears pierced with ruby studs.

"They work for a jewel trading company… Adamovich Ruby Organization ring any bells?", he typed.

"Nope, no bell.", I typed back, yet something told me that these two men were up to no good.

* * *

**Natasha POV**

I was in the gym doing my cardio routine when Pepper came in wearing her exercise clothes and looking like she had just heard the juiciest bit of Wall Street gossip.

"Hey Pepper, whatcha up to?", I asked as I took a water break and stretched.

"Oh, just the usual workout. How about you?", she asked with a pleasant grin.

"I'm taking care of the last bits of my postpartum belly and getting rid of the stretch marks on my thighs and butt."

"At least the girls are still in fine shape after all your mommy duties.", Pepper laughed.

I laughed too.

"Yeah, they've never been a problem except if you count the first time I went on a honey pot mission to seduce and kill some international drug lord and Clint spent the whole time with his sight trained on my cleavage…", I said.

"Wow, talk about your awkward situation… I think Tony feared me more than he respected me when our relationship was strictly professional because he still did some pretty stupid things when I was working as his PA, but he never tried to make any romantic passes at me.", Pepper said as she began to jog on one of the treadmills.

I started walking on the one next to her and then joined her at a jogging speed.

"So what are you and Tony doing tomorrow night for your anniversary?", I asked.

"Oh I have a surprise planned for him, it's pretty big…", she replied.

"And you can't tell anyone because it's top secret?", I asked.

"Well… kind of…yeah."

"Aww so I don't even get a hint?", I asked, really wanting to know what she knew (I'm a spy, I live on secrets).

"Well I guess I can give you one tiny hint…but you can't tell a soul!", she gushed before looking around and lowering her voice, "Okay here it is: Big changes are coming to the tower."

I shrugged.

"Well yeah, I know you take your interior design stuff seriously, but I hope your changes will include a new couch in the living room big enough for all of us. You aren't going to completely refurbish the place are you?"

Pepper laughed.

"Sorry, that was your one clue."

"You're right, you did only say you would give me one hint.", I shrugged as I started going my pre-pregnancy speed, which was one of the highest settings on the treadmill.

I was running just as fast and just as long as I was before I got pregnant, I was also working on my weight training…in two weeks, I would be able to try out the obstacle course that SHIELD had set up in the NYC HQ for testing the skills of any agent.

I just surpassed my previous time and was on my way to completing five miles in under seven minutes, a new personal best for me, when Bruce came into the Gym.

"Natasha. We have to talk.", he said.

I held up my pointer finger and said,

"Almost finished here, then we can talk."

I turned off the treadmill and started walking around the Gym to lower my heart rate and then I motioned to Bruce and we moved out into the hall.

"Hey…", I panted, "What's….wrong?"

"Well, Clint is undercover at the medical building and he saw these two men go into Dr. Abernathy's office. He took their photos and ran them through SHIELD's system to analyze their identities, turns out that they were just two men who worked for a Russian jewel trading organization and that they were pretty much unaffiliated, but I still got a bad feeling about them.", he said.

My eyes shot open and I almost spit out my Gatorade.

"Bruce! What is the name of the organization they work for?", I asked, fear evident in my voice.

He reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out some papers.

"Um, they work for the 'Adamovich Ruby Organization'…here are the pictures of the men…", Bruce said as he handed me the photos.

The Adamovich Ruby Organization was a company I had never heard of, but the only two words that mattered to me were 'Adamovich' and 'Ruby'. I looked at the photos of the two men and, although I had never seen them before, they certainly did look a lot like the type of men who would work for the Red Room.

"Natasha. What's wrong?", he asked. "You just got really pale."

"I have never heard of any company by that name but I have heard of the name Adamovich…", I said.

"Is it code for something?", he asked, straightening his glasses.

"No, when I was in the Red Room, the director was named Vladimir Adamovich…"

"I see the correlation… but if this  _is_  the Red Room in disguise and Adamovich is behind all of this, why would he target a pediatrician?"

I thought for a second.

"Dr. Abernathy is under surveillance because of how reluctant she was to become a SHIELD civilian doctor… She's an easy target who would comply to the request of anyone who threatens her. Not to mention the fact that a lot of SHIELD employees that are parents in the area have their children's medical records kept there.", I replied.

"And you're 100% sure about this?", Bruce asked, "Isn't 'Adamovich' a popular Russian name?"

"It is. But I don't like the looks of these men…"

The elevator doors opened at the end of the hall and Fury walked out of them with Jane and Thor.

"Dr. Banner, Agent Banner, you two should come with me.", he said before walking down the hall to the small meeting room at the end.

We sat down inside and Fury addressed us.

"You all are the only ones on the team with children,  _super-powered_  children at that. Your children, and the children of many SHIELD employees, are also patients of Dr. Karolyn Abernathy. SHIELD had to bring her under protection for this reason. Agents Atwell and Barton are undercover at the medical building because I felt that Dr. Abernathy was a risk."

Jane spoke up.

"Director Fury, if this is about the two men Clint saw today, we already know. He notified Bruce and I about the situation. The second I heard about it, I told Thor, so I'm sure Natasha knows by now.", she said.

"Well since you all have been informed, I suppose you already know that these men are dangerous."

"Their records say otherwise…", Bruce said, holding up the photos and information about the two men.

"That's because our system was hacked by people who allegedly work with or for them.", Fury replied.

"Are they with the Red Room?", I asked.

Fury fixed me with his stare.

"We don't know if they are or not, but maybe you can tell us, since you were affiliated with them for quite some time."

All eyes were on me now.

"I don't know if they are but I do know that the company they work for sounds a lot like an alias for the Red Room. This 'Adamovich' could be the same person as Vladimir Adamovich, director of the Red Room which would also explain the 'Ruby' part of the name.", I replied.

"Well our top hackers are searching for any recent business deals and any sales made by the organization. Our hackers found a few sales, but the customers were all Russian and their orders were in code. We have no clue who these customers actually are but we should have them identified in a few hours. As for the two thugs Agent Barton saw, one was shot and the other escaped from the building. According to Agent Atwell, one of them locked her in a storage closet just as the other one was taking photos of some files. When she shot the lock off the door, it was too late to see which files they had photographed because they had been returned to their proper place. All the patient's records must now be combed over to make sure that nothing is missing. We have agents at the scene and investigations are underway.", Fury explained.

"What shall become of the healer?", Thor asked.

"Dr. Abernathy has agreed to join our witness protection program, she and her husband are headed someplace new and they will blend in with life in their new setting. In the meantime, we are replacing Dr. Abernathy with a SHIELD medic who has experience with pediatric care."

"What should we do for now?", Bruce asked.

"Stay in the tower until further notice. We have no clue where the other thug is or if he's got allies. We'll look into your hunch about the connection between the Adamovich Ruby Organization and the Red Room and let you know if we have any leads. The Avengers will still be on call in case anyone needs them, but Dr. Odinson and Agent Banner…" , he said, turning to face Jane and I, "You are not allowed to leave the tower under any circumstances. Thor and Dr. Banner are only allowed to leave if the entire Avengers team is called. That is all."

Fury left the room and I looked over at Jane.

"Well, there goes our Mother's night out…", she said, voicing my thoughts with a sigh.

* * *

**The Next Day (New Year's Eve)**

**Bruce POV**

"Hurry up Tony! Pepper is waiting for you!", Steve called as Tony finally came out of the Lab with his suit on.

"I'm sorry, I was putting the finishing touches on Pepper's anniversary gift… Are we all ready to head upstairs to the dinner party?"

"Yeah… Hey, where did Loki go?", Phil asked.

We all looked around and shrugged.

"He didn't tell me about anything…", Steve replied. "Maybe he went to change his tie again…he's been acting weird lately, like he's hiding something."

"That's weird, so has Pepper…I asked her yesterday if she was hiding anything and she told me flat out that she was, that it was a surprise, and that she wouldn't give me any hints.", Tony stated, "Maybe I'm getting a car as my anniversary present.", he said with a shrug.

"Don't count on it Tony.", Clint said as he straightened his tie. "You know Pepper wouldn't buy you another car, even as a birthday present."

"I know what I'm getting for my birthday present…", Phil said.

"What's that?", Clint asked.

"A son. Maria and I finally got the gender of our baby…She's due on March 2nd."

Everyone congratulated Phil as he nodded and accepted the congratulations.

"Ah, there you are Loki! You just missed a most joyous piece of news! Maria is carrying a son! We were wondering where you had run off to!", Thor said, clapping Loki on the back and almost causing him to faceplant. "You weren't hiding from mother and father were you?"

"Congratulations Phil and no, I wasn't hiding from them or your friends, I just had to take care of something… Darcy's birthday is in a week and I just had to find a good hiding place for her present, you know, someplace secret…"

"You hid it in your old helmet, didn't you?", Tony asked.

"No way! She loves that helmet…I hid it in the same part of my closet that my summer clothes are kept in."

"Well gentlemen, I do believe that we have kept them waiting long enough.", said Tony and soon we were crammed into the elevator and headed up to the living area.

We got out a few moments later and greeted the guests.

The Lewis's and the Potts's had come over for the New Year's Eve festivities since they lived relatively close to New York. The real surprise came around noon today when King Odin, Queen Frigga, and a group of Thor's friends (Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, I think) showed up unexpectedly.

The King and Queen of Asgard came mainly to visit their grandchildren for the first time. Thor's warrior friends came because they hadn't seen Thor in ages (or at least since the last time he was on Asgard while Jane was in her second month of pregnancy). Odin was surprised to see Loki out and about instead of being locked in a prison cell. Frigga on the other hand was too thrilled to finally meet Darcy.

Some of Phil and Maria's friends from SHIELD were present too.

Fury had flown his parents into town yesterday evening for the New Year's celebration.

Beth's family was remaining in Oxford because they hosted a town gathering at their farm on New Year's Eve.

I spotted Natasha holding Anastasia across the room and made my way over to her. She wore a knee length sapphire dress with silver high heels that accented the physique that she worked so tirelessly to regain.

"Mrs. Banner, you look superb.", I said, kissing her cheek.

"Ah! You must be the Banners! Nick has told us all about you!", said Fury's mom in greeting. "I'm Marian and this is Sam.", she said, introducing herself and Fury's father.

Natasha smiled back and went on with the introductions.

"You've been a mother for how long?", Marian asked as she noticed Natasha's hourglass physique.

"Six months.", she replied.

"You look fantastic! You must have worked hard in six months.", she complimented.

"Thank you…"

Fury came over to us and said that dinner was ready.

We followed everyone into the dining room and took our seats.

"Ahem!", Pepper stood up and tapped her water goblet with a knife, "May I have everyone's attention please?"

The room fell silent.

"Thank you, I just wanted to say a few words before we got dinner underway. First of all, on behalf of everyone who lives here, thank you for attending this little party. Secondly, we hope you enjoy yourselves. I actually have an important announcement to make. Exactly one year ago today, I married Tony Stark. This first year of marriage was full of new challenges and obstacles that Tony and I have faced together.", Pepper paused and looked around, "About a month ago, I realized that our anniversary was fast approaching, but that I had no clue what to get the man who has everything. Then I realized that there was one thing that Tony…That both of us wanted more than anything. A family of our own.", she blushed and took Tony's hand, "Happy Anniversary Tony…I'm pregnant."

The look on Tony's face was priceless as the whole room erupted in cheers and congratulations.

I was sitting near enough to Tony and Pepper that I heard him whisper to Pepper,

"You...you're serious… And it's one that we didn't need help with?"

"Nope, I didn't have anything done…"

"So we're really going to be parents?", Tony asked, and I could tell he was trying to stop himself from shedding tears of joy.

Pepper nodded.

I looked over at Natasha who was clearly nervous even as she fed Anastasia her food.

"Natasha, are you still worried about what happened yesterday?", I asked softly.

"Bruce, you know I am, and for good reason. When Fury told Jane and I that we were basically under house arrest for our own safety, that didn't make me feel safer, that made me feel like a fish swimming in circles inside its bowl while a hungry cat watches its every move, waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill and devour its prey.", she replied.

I understood her situation, having been on the run before from Ross and Blonsky, and I knew all too well how 'home' could turn into a place that you felt trapped in.

"Well we don't know whose files were photographed…", I replied, trying to ease her anxiety but inadvertently adding to my own instead.

"That doesn't help matters!", she whispered sharply.

I looked over at Jane and Thor who were finished eating and were making conversation with all of the Asgardians except one. Queen Frigga was bouncing Liz on her knee until she turned her head and made eye contact with me.

It was like she was looking into my soul and then she stared at Natasha in the same way.

She whispered something to Odin and handed Liz to him before rising and making her way over to us, her gown rippling in her wake.

"Is this seat occupied?", she inquired politely.

We both shook our heads and she smiled before being seated.

"You must be the proud warrior Lady Natasha and you must be her husband, the respected healer, Sir Bruce. I am Frigga, wife of Odin Allfather and Queen of Asgard and the mother of Thor and Loki. I couldn't help but notice that you carry the same burden of concern that my son and his wife carry, only the weight of yours is much greater than theirs. What troubles you so?"

Natasha began to tell her what happened with Dr. Abernathy but Frigga interjected.

"I am aware of that and I must tell you that, although I am sorceress, I have also acquired the gift of prophecy. It works on mortals better than on Aesir and other beings.", she gestured towards Natasha's hand, extending one of her own. "May I?", she asked and Natasha shrugged before placing her hand in Frigga's.

"I see that the warrior's sharp senses are intertwined with her motherly instincts… The spider is trapped in the glass bell jar… the guess was correct… the red you see unfolding before you is the red you carry in your past… The faceless man is holding an hourglass with blood on his hands… vengeance is what he seeks, vengeance on the one who cast him out... the warrior is pulled from the embrace of the healer and the daughter is pulled from the cold arms of her mother…", she muttered before releasing Natasha's hand.

"What does that mean?", Natasha asked.

"You must interpret it yourself…I can only tell you so much.", Frigga replied before holding her hand out to me. "Your turn."

I placed my hand in hers and felt a warm sensation surge through my body.

"I see that your emotions are separate and yet the same… there is so much anger inside of you… there is hatred towards the same faceless man whom the warrior fears… the healer is trapped like the spider, caught inside a physical and a mental prison… the faceless man has blood on his hands, he seeks to inflict pain and sorrow on the one who has done nothing wrong…the healer must protect what is his at all costs… the faceless man is coming… the hourglass has run out of sand… the faceless man steals the warrior and daughter away to a cold place… green surrounds the healer and it becomes him…", Frigga prophesied.

I knew what she saw. She saw that the Hulk was the embodiment of my emotions, she saw that, deep inside, I was always angry, I was feeling trapped, and she knew that I would lay down my life for my wife and daughter.

Frigga looked over at Anastasia who jabbered happily at her from her high chair.

"Your daughter is beautiful…would you allow me to see what her future holds?"

We nodded and Frigga reached out to Anastasia who grabbed one of Frigga's long, slender fingers before she quieted and her eyes went wide with wonder.

"I see her in green, just like her father… but it does not overcome her… she will grow into a beautiful young woman but it will not be a happy time for her… the red that was in her mother's past will become her future… the faceless man has shattered the hourglass… time is up… the daughter will change… the red will consume her, the faceless man pulls her away from the healer's strong embrace and the warrior's cold body without mercy… the daughter longs for their embrace…", Frigga prophesied.

All of our prophecies were frightening and Frigga sensed this.

"Oh, do not worry yourself if my prophecies seemed darker than what you expected, the future is not set in stone and one's destiny can be changed a million times in a single heartbeat. Do not fear my words for they are merely words, but heed them when I say take caution against the faceless man."

"But who is the faceless man?", Natasha asked.

"He is the one who seeks vengeance on you for casting him out,", she said, pointing at Natasha, "He is the one who wishes to turn your life into your darkest nightmare,", she said, pointing at me, "and he is the one who wishes to steal her away for his own gains.", she said, pointing to Anastasia.

Natasha clenched her jaw in anger.

"Lady Natasha, you know the faceless man…", Frigga stated.

"I do alright… his name is Ivan.", Natasha replied in a deadly voice.

"Then you know what must be done…", Frigga said before standing, wishing us luck, and walking away to stand by Odin.

I glanced at Natasha.

"Now that we know what's going on…what should we do?", I asked as she scooped up Anastasia.

"I don't have a plan yet but we might have to do the very thing Fury told us not to."

"Leave?", I asked.

Natasha nodded as we left the dining room.

"Leave."

The next few hours passed in a sort of blurry haze.

As we rang in the New Year, we had smiles on our faces but deep feelings of fear in our hearts.

* * *

 


	4. Avenger Emeritus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is with a heavy heart that I write this. The inspiration to continue "A Promise Fulfilled" has left me completely.  
> Due to my lack of inspiration I have decided to discontinue writing it.  
> I will tie up loose ends for you now.
> 
> This is a Narration POV that is set thirty five years in the future.

**Narration POV**

  
**Thirty-Five years in the future...**   


* * *

Natasha went into the field after her maternity leave was up and continued her work as an active-duty agent with Clint Barton until her thirty fifth birthday. Then she began training recruits at the SHIELD Operations facility instead of being a field agent.

She and Bruce had three more children; Anthony Clinton Banner, Flynn Ivan Banner, and Rebecca Cynthia Banner (after Bruce's mother).

She never miscarried again and none of the children inherited the Hulk.

Bruce got a job working as a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. He found a way to control the Hulk, who became more tame over the years.

Both Natasha and Bruce never quit the Avengers, but they retired after all four of their children were grown up and had children of their own, both of them earning the titles of "Avenger Emeritus". Bruce and Natasha went down in history as two of the original Avengers and their marriage is still holding strong to this day.

When Anastasia turned two, the Banners moved to the suburbs in Rochester New York with Snowy and then they rescued an orange tabby kitten named Sunny. Snowy died of old age and her ashes still sit in an urn on the mantle in the living room of the Banner house. Sunny had a run-in with Odin during a Christmas party and somehow gained immortality, so she'll be around forever.

Anastasia grew up as the oldest of the four Banner children. She was as beautiful as her mother and as smart as her father. Contrary to Natasha's hopes, Anastasia never took up ballet or dance, but she did excel at every sport she played, even tackle football, and earned the highest ranks in her Kung Fu and MMA classes. Instead of earning her PhD in physics like Bruce, she became a neurosurgeon as well as an honorary Avenger. She controlled her Hulk and did not pass it on to either of her two sons.

All of the Banner children were top of their respective graduating classes and were also their respective class valedictorians in high school and in college.

* * *

Tony and Pepper have two children; Howard Bruce Stark and Victoria Elaine Stark.

Both children are certified geniuses and breezed through school just as Tony did.

Howard took over Stark Industries when his mother retired and now runs the company with Victoria.

Tony no longer has his arc reactor in his chest, but he still flies his suits for nostalgia's sake.

Howard and Victoria are both SHIELD consultants and honorary Avengers.

Tony earned the title "Avenger Emeritus" when he retired.

He and Pepper live in Malibu, where their story began so many years ago.

* * *

Steve and Beth have six children; James 'Bucky' Buchanan Rogers, Ericka Marie Rogers, Margaret 'Peggy' Nicole Rogers, Steven Grant Rogers Jr., Benjamin Howard Rogers, and Teresa Elizabeth Rogers.

They live in a huge Brownstone in Brooklyn.

Steve is still a consultant for SHIELD and an "Avenger Emeritus".

Beth is a Broadway legend and has starred in countless hit productions and she is now writing and directing her own award-winning musicals. She has all of her 9 Tony Awards (from both acting, writing, and directing) on a shelf next to Steve's shield.

All of their children inherited the Super Soldier genome from Steve, all of them are honorary Avengers and all of them have blonde hair and blue eyes, just like Steve and Beth.

* * *

Thor and Jane live on Asgard as King and Queen, but this doesn't stop them from visiting Earth as often as they can.

Jane gained immortality and has learned magic under Frigga's instruction.

Edward and Elizabeth are the royal twins, Edward has the ability to wield the power of light and Elizabeth has the ability to wield the power of darkness.

Both of them are good and inseparable.

When Thor and Jane descend from the throne, Edward and Elizabeth will automatically become King and Queen, no matter who they are married to.

* * *

Clint and Serena got married and have one daughter named Brigit Natasha Barton-Atwell.

They all live in Washington D.C..

Serena is a foreign SHIELD recruiter, Clint is an "Avenger Emeritus" as well as a lieutenant and will take over as director of SHIELD when Maria Coulson sees fit to step down.

Brigit works in SHIELD as a field agent and works on the same team as Flynn Banner.

She and Flynn got married a few years ago and have one son named Andrew.

This makes Clint and Serena and Bruce and Natasha family, and as in-laws and grandparents, they couldn't be prouder.

* * *

Loki and Darcy got married in Las Vegas and now have two children; Ignatius and Percy Laufeyson.

Loki was never recognized as an "Avenger Emeritus", nor was Darcy, but they both went down in history as the evil demigod who became a kind man and the woman who changed him forever.

They live in Seattle Washington.

Darcy became a successful author of her bestselling books, "The Avengers: History's Greatest Heroes", "Magic Man", and "Days Among The Stars: My Journey Across The Nine Realms", as well as a professor of Political Sciences.

She wrote the book that made the Avengers go down in history.

Loki earned his degree and is now a professor of Shakespearian Studies.

Both teach at Seattle University.

* * *

Phil and Maria have three children; Steven Joseph Coulson, Alexandria Christine Coulson, and Frederick Lee Coulson.

Maria is the director of SHIELD and Phil is retired with the highest honors.

He and Maria do not have the titles "Avengers Emeritus", but in Darcy's book, Phil Coulson is the true hero that sacrificed himself to create 'History's Greatest Heroes'.

They live in Washington D.C. with their German Shepherd named Moxie.

* * *

Nick Fury is living in Hawai'i, enjoying his well-earned retirement... He bought the mansion next door to the Stark's Kahala mansion.

The whole team flew in to celebrate his ninetieth birthday and stayed in both the Stark mansion and Fury's mansion.

Fury is still as sharp as ever, his years haven't dulled him a bit.

* * *

Ivan Petrovich was stopped before he could harm the Banner family, Natasha made sure that he was sent far away from the Avengers to live out his days in a peaceful exile while being monitored by SHIELD.

He had a stroke seven years later and died peacefully in his sleep.

* * *

The Red Room was taken down by Brigit and Flynn, who teamed up and killed Vladimir Adamovich.

* * *

All that can be said is that, at the end of everything, all it takes is someone swearing on their life or fulfilling a promise to ensure that good things will happen for years to come.

* * *

P.S.: Natasha doesn't mind her grey hair a bit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your support!  
> Follow me on Tumblr @ nerdy-birdy18 for fandom things and check out some of my other stories on AO3!


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